The head of Germany's intelligence service said the country could be a target of an Islamist attack similar to those carried out by a gunman in France two months ago. Heinz Fromm's comments, quoted in an interview with the top-selling Bild daily, follow a series of clashes in several German cities and towns between police and Salafi Muslims.Fromm said, "The danger for Germany has unfortunately not decreased. And it is not by any means abstract. An attack like in France in March... is also conceivable here.", adding that Merah had had contact with Salafis before his shooting spree.
Mohamed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, gunned down seven people - three soldiers, three Jewish children and a rabbi - before being killed himself by elite French police commandos in Toulouse on March 22.
Fromm cited a video made by a Berlin-based Salafi, a former rapper known as Denis C., which calls for jihad and praises Merah and Osama bin Laden. He said, "We must take (this video) seriously. It could well be that this video is taken as an inducement for attacks.
"With their intensive propaganda over the Internet, in the streets, in mosques and also at so-called Islam seminars, Salafi preachers are reaching especially young people who are more sensitive to this ideology. Almost all Islamist terrorists from Germany have been radicalized in this way."
Earlier this month, Germany said it was considernig a legal ban on Salafis after recent clashes. In the most serious violence, Salafis turned on police protecting far-right anti-Islam protesters during a regional election rally in the western city of Bonn, wounding 29 officers, two of them seriously. Authorities arrested 109 people, among them a 25-year-old man suspected of stabbing two police officers.
The anti-Islam protesters had infuriated the Salafis by waving banners showing cartoons of Mohammad. Local reports said 500-600 Salafis faced off with 30 far-right protesters.
In recent weeks, Salafis have been handing out thousands of Korans, translated into German, to